Angel Pagan, who has missed three games with a strained left hamstring, was to have a cortisone shot tonight and be shelved another couple of games. Manager Bruce Bochy said the center fielder could be back in the lineup this weekend in St. Louis.

The disabled list is the last resort.

“If we think that’s the way to go, we’ll have to do that,” Bochy said. “Right now, we think he’ll be ready in St. Louis.”

—– Bochy said Chad Gaudin is the likely starter for Sunday. He has made 75 starts in the majors, none since 2009.

“A guy like Chad’s invaluable to a club for me, to have a guy like this I could use anywhere,” Bochy said. “Like yesterday, we needed some innings, and he was the one guy who could do it. He could pitch late in the game. This past week, he helped get big outs. Now we need a starter, and he has a chance to start. Pretty nice to have, a guy who’s versatile like Chad who can do a lot of things for you.”

—– Reliever Ramon Ramirez is here, taking the roster spot of Mike Kickham, who was optioned to Triple-A Fresno one day after making his first big-league start.

So much for that trade on Dec. 7, 2011.

That day, the Giants dealt Andres Torres and Ramirez to the Mets for Angel Pagan.

Well, Torres and Ramirez are Giants again because Ramirez had his contract purchased from Triple-A Fresno.

Torres is leading off, and Ramirez would be a seventh- or eighth-inning reliever, Bruce Bochy said.

As for Pagan, he’s unavailable the next two games. His hamstring remains a problem, and he was to have a cortisone shot tonight. The earliest he’d be available is this weekend in St. Louis.

So that 2011 trade didn’t do much except keep Torres and Ramirez away temporarily. Still, this is the first day that Pagan, Torres and Ramirez have been regular-season teammates.

Back in the Giants’ clubhouse for the first time since 2011, Ramirez told me, “This is like my family. I love it here. I didn’t know this would happen. I always wished this would happen because I love this team.”

—– To create room on the 40-man roster for Ramirez, the Giants moved infielder Tony Abreu to the 60-day disabled list.

—– Kickham was in no hurry to leave the clubhouse after getting optioned, and can you blame him?

I asked what his best memory would be from his first big-league appearance on Tuesday, and he said, “The first inning and proving to myself I can get outs with my stuff up here as long as I make my pitches and get ahead of the count. And throwing to Buster (Posey) is always a cool experience. Most guys don’t get to throw to someone that special of a player their first time out, so it was pretty cool.”